Washington, DC [US], November 14 : US President Donald Trump sharply criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday over the governor’s move to clear the state's death row, calling the decision a "disaster for Justice in America."
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump took aim at Newsom, whom he referred to by the derisive nickname "Gavin Newscum", for halting capital punishment for hundreds of condemned prisoners.
While Trump cited a figure of 563 inmates, Newsom said he was commuting the sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"Gavin Newscum’s halting the Death Penalty for all 563 California Death Row inmates, some of the worst cold-blooded murderers to have ever lived on the face of the Earth, is a disaster for Justice in America," Trump wrote.
The president argued that those convicted of repeated killings "can’t believe their luck in having a Governor so incompetent and insensitive that he would not let the long and winding legal system prevail."
Trump also highlighted the impact on the relatives of murder victims, stating that "the family members of those who were so viciously killed are, rightfully, devastated," before expressing hope that the decision would be reversed. "Hopefully this decision will be overturned!" he added.
This comes after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that he is commuting all death sentences in the state to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, coming nearly eight years after he first imposed a moratorium on executions, according to CNN.
In an open letter to California residents released by his office, Newsom, who is weighing a 2028 presidential run, wrote: “My decision today comes after nearly three decades of openly opposing state-sanctioned executions as an elected official,” CNN reported.
According to data from the Death Penalty Information Centre, a nonprofit organisation that monitors capital punishment, the move affects 548 inmates in California, which holds the largest death row population in the country. CNN noted that the state has not carried out an execution in roughly two decades.
The announcement arrives amid heightened scrutiny of capital punishment nationwide following Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike in late September, CNN reported. Since Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, Tennessee has halted its remaining scheduled executions, though court efforts to pause executions in other states have been rejected.
On Thursday alone, three lethal injections were slated across the US, with Florida and Alabama set to execute two men shortly after an execution in Indiana, according to the report.
CNN also noted that removing hundreds of inmates from California's death row will not happen immediately. Citing the governor's office, the network reported that the California Supreme Court must still review and approve commutations for 382 prisoners who have more than one felony conviction.
Among those currently on California’s death row are notorious offenders including serial killer Randy Kraft—dubbed the “Southern California Strangler”—Charles Ng, who was convicted of murdering 11 people in the state during the 1980s, and Richard Allen Davis, who abducted and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993, CNN reported.